Tag Archives: #studentdesignedlearning

If you know me, you might notice that I can be a bit “particular” and I like things to be “my way” (AKA perfect..all the time). Unfortunately, my “control freak” nature (as some might suggest) is not always conducive to learning and can be a bit overwhelming. This year, I am trying to step out of my comfort zone and surrender more control to my students. This is not easy for me at all (because I feel the need to give people my opinion, even when not solicited, but I digress), but thankfully, my students have already responded in amazing ways. (More details to come…)

Student-Designed Rubrics: This year, I am offering student a few opportunities to create their own project rubrics. To begin, students are given a problem/challenge/scenario and must create their solution/project/response with very limited guidelines. As a class, students then collaborate on a Google Doc to identify and explain the objectives of the project and create measurable indicators for these goals. Then, the class agrees upon the total point value for the project as well as the rubric indicator values.

Student-Designed Benchmarks: Additionally, students choose the due date of the project and identify important “check-in” dates and benchmarks where they can solicit student and instructor feedback on their project prototypes.

Is this going to work? I’m not really sure, but I am extremely encouraged by what I have witnessed thus far. So many students have stepped up and taken on leadership roles in this process. It is not always a “pretty process”, but it doesn’t have to be.

My goal is that students experience a sense of pride and ownership, not just in their final product, but in the learning design process. I want my students all to feel comfortable delegating tasks within their group and sharing responsibility for a common purpose.